diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'progress')
| -rw-r--r-- | progress/Consensus.tex | 4 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | progress/Network.tex | 2 |
2 files changed, 4 insertions, 2 deletions
diff --git a/progress/Consensus.tex b/progress/Consensus.tex index a9b484b..8f6d1b7 100644 --- a/progress/Consensus.tex +++ b/progress/Consensus.tex @@ -2,4 +2,6 @@ There's a famous problem in computer science called the Two Generals' Problem. I This is an attempt at global consensus in a distributed system, and is still an unsolved problem so far as such a problem can be ``solved.'' However, algorithmic approaches are rapidly becoming more important as global consensus is intimately intertwined with novel technologies. These start with the internet and routing paths (even though they're both about 60 years old), torrent software, the TOR network, server redundancy in commercial applications, and the holy grail of distributed computing: cryptocurrency. % Are all of them necessary? If so, long sentence. -We want to review existing literature on the topic as well as practical applications of those principles (e.g. Bitcoin's consensus algorithm and its failures),\footnote{$^1$}{\link{https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=702755.0}} so we will use a variety of sources, primarily academic in nature, as well as use computing tools and/or combinatoric algorithms to understand how effective (or ineffective) certain systems are at achieving different tasks, like the several routing algorithms available to ISPs and different cryptocurrencies' consensus and hash algorithms (like between Monero and Bitcoin). +For all of our subtopics, we want to understand the systems and practical applications, so we will survey existing literature on these topics and user computing tools/mathematical approaches to analyze alternative systems for some of the listed applications. + +%We want to review existing literature on the topic as well as practical applications of those principles (e.g. Bitcoin's consensus algorithm and its failures),\footnote{$^1$}{\link{https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=702755.0}} so we will use a variety of sources, primarily academic in nature, as well as use computing tools and/or combinatoric algorithms to understand how effective (or ineffective) certain systems are at achieving different tasks, like the several routing algorithms available to ISPs and different cryptocurrencies' consensus and hash algorithms (like between Monero and Bitcoin). diff --git a/progress/Network.tex b/progress/Network.tex index 700189e..0bf84d2 100644 --- a/progress/Network.tex +++ b/progress/Network.tex @@ -1,4 +1,4 @@ -Network connectivity is usually an issue on a local scale: one router or modem or device has a broken component---usually software that needs to be reset in one way or another. However, it rears its head on a very large scale as well: routing connections, as mentioned earlier, relies on the ability to communicate with at least one ``neighbor'' on the network, which is fine unless that neighbor goes down for whatever reason. And in non-decentralized systems, such as modern ISPs, that's exactly what happens: a software bug or power outage or any sort of problem tanks an entire area's coverage for hours to days. +Network connectivity is often an issue on a local scale: one router or modem or device breaks. However, on a : routing connections, as mentioned earlier, rely on the ability to communicate with at least one ``neighbor'' on the network, which is fine until that neighbor goes down. And in centralized systems, such as commercial ISPs', that's exactly what happens: any sort of problem can tank an entire area's coverage for hours to days. \sinclude Combinatorics Applications:net-apps |